seediness, corn boo-boo, + more Sierran shots

 
1. Garden "to do."
 

the seeds, not the nap

(not sure I have room, for everything, but...)

While my Nikon was out...

2. Corn timing = oops.

So, I had heard one thing re: how to tell corn is done. Well, that wasn't happening (corn ears pointing down) and it's now October, so I took a peek. And it looked fully developed.

So, then I grabbed my favorite gardening book (why didn't I do this 2 months ago?!?) and it said the corn is ready when the silk is dry.

!

The silk has been dry for WEEKS. ARF!

So, I picked an ear. Cut the kernels off the ear, cut up a few tomatoes, and sauteed them with onion. But, as the corn kernels started to exfoliate the pan, my heart sank.

I tasted one kernel. ew. WAY past eating-fresh mature; hard and pasty. ICK. As a matter of fact, the chickens are eating that entire meal RIGHT NOW.

So, it looks like my (I believe Hopi) corn will become corn flower, which is fine, as that was part of the excitement of getting blue corn. Nevertheless: it's beautiful.

Now I just have to figure out: a) how long I have to keep the corn on NOW for it to get super done and dry, and b) how much rain at this point is too much?

I have no idea.

Looks like it's time to hit the books, again. =)

3. a few more pics from this weekend

View east from Tioga Pass Road in the Mt. Dana vicinity--on the way to the fee booth, headed OUT of the park (east and down toward Lee Vining).

 Ellery Lake

Outside Yosemite. One freaky year, Bear actually got to ice skate here. Normally the road is closed in winter, but for some reason, it opened (uh, probably the snow on the roads melted...), so he got to cruise around this landscape on frozen ice. Too cool. I LOVE all the different colors on these mountains. Rainbow rocks.

Very nice beaver dam in Lundy canyon.

As mentioned, BEAUTIFUL fall aspen colors--amazing. But, was raining, so my camera hid in the car.

 So, why do we bother to drive to the east side?

These are the cinder cones south of Mono Lake.

I adore these cinder cones. I've painted probably 6 things in my life, but these are among them. A pretty good description of the freaky area that is the Mono Lake region can be read here.

If you ever get the chance, and haven't been, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go. It's bizarre, stark, and to me, irresistibly magnetic.

bb